Relics
' |image= |series= |production= 40276-230 |producer(s)= |story= |script= Ronald D. Moore |director= Alexander Singer |imdbref=tt0708764 |guests=James Doohan as Montgomery Scott, Lanei Chapman as Sariel Rager, Erick Weiss as Kane, Stacie Foster as Bartel, Ernie Mirich as Waiter, Majel Barrett as Computer Voice |previous_production=Man of the People |next_production=Schisms |episode=TNG S06E04 |airdate= 12 October 1992 |previous_release=Man of the People |next_release=Schisms |story_date(s)=Stardate 46125.3 |previous_story=Man of the People |next_story=Schisms }} =Summary= The starship Enterprise, responding to a distress call, drops out of warp to discover a nearby Dyson sphere. They trace the distress call to the USS Jenolen, a Federation transport ship that has been reported missing for 75 years, and which has crashed intact on the sphere's outer hull. Commander Riker, Chief Engineer La Forge, and Lt. Worf transport to the Jenolen while the Enterprise investigates the sphere. La Forge discovers that the Jenolen's transporter has been jury-rigged to sustain two life signals within its pattern buffer indefinitely, though one has degraded too far to be recovered. La Forge reverses the process and restores the remaining life form, which turns out to be former Starfleet officer Captain Montgomery Scott. Scott explains during a check up of his health aboard the Enterprise that he was only a passenger aboard the Jenolen during his retirement, but when the ship was caught in the Dyson sphere's gravity field, only he and one other officer survived the crash, and Scott had rigged the transporter to try to keep them "alive" until a rescue vessel could arrive. After being cleared by Dr. Crusher, Scott is eager to see the advances in technology including a tour of the Engineering deck, but quickly finds that his old knowledge has long been surpassed and his efforts to help are instead getting in the way of normal operations. Ordered to leave Engineering by La Forge, Scott heads to Ten Forward, and is upset to learn that real alcohol is no longer served on Starfleet ships (having been replaced by 'synthehol', which Scotty refuses to drink). Commander Data offers a potent beverage from Guinan's private stock to Scott, which Data can only describe as being "green." With the bottle in hand, Scott uses one of the Enterprise's holodecks to recreate the bridge of his old ship, the Enterprise, to try to relive his past. Captain Picard joins Scott after hearing of his difficulties in becoming adjusted to the 24th century and tries to console him, to which Scott declares himself a relic of the past. He reveals that the green drink is Aldebaran whiskey that he provided to Guinan and partakes heartily. The next day, in continuing the survey of the Dyson sphere, Picard suggests to La Forge to enlist Scott's help to recover existing survey data from the older Jenolen systems, technology at which Scott is adept. The two return to the Jenolen and begin to recover its memory core with Scott's help. The Enterprise discovers a port on the side of the Dyson sphere, but when they try to communicate with the systems, the ship is pulled into the Dyson sphere by automated controls; this temporarily disables their systems. Though they are able to recover control before the ship impacts with the star inside the sphere, they find the star is unstable and emitting large amounts of radiation which will be lethal to the crew, and surmise that the sphere was long abandoned by its creators due to this. The Enterprise quickly realizes the only exit from the interior of the sphere is the port they used but cannot figure out how to open it from their side. When La Forge tries to make contact with the Enterprise, he discovers it missing, and works with Scott to make the Jenolen flight-worthy. They discover the same port the Enterprise found and surmise the Enterprise is trapped inside. La Forge and Scott manage to open the port without being pulled in and then wedge the Jenolen in the open port, using its shields to keep it open while the Enterprise escapes, rescuing the two engineers from the Jenolen just before destroying it with photon torpedoes. As the Enterprise returns to its mission, the crew of the ship give Scott his very own shuttlecraft "on extended loan" to either continue to his retirement or to explore the galaxy. Scott thanks the crew and reminds La Forge to make the most of his time as the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise before he departs. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # The sensors on Enterprise not detecting the Dyson Sphere's gravitational field due to the high levels of gravimetric interference. The readings may have been distorted. # Scotty gesturing with a broken arm. He's probably ignoring the pain. # Enterprise waiting until La Forge calls to inform them the Sphere's outer door is wedged open before moving away from the star. Perhaps the engineering staff had only just restored operation of the impulse engines. Equipment Oddities # The possibility of the Enterprise flying into the sphere at warp speed if they hadn't detected the distress signal. The Sphere's gravitational field would have likely triggered the warp drive auto shutdown system. # The replicators apparently losing the ability to produce real alcohol that they had in Up the Long Ladder. They were probably reprogrammed as a direct result of what happened to Danilo Odell when he tried the Klingon drink Worf requested for him. # The turbolift doors opening for Riker before he reaches them, after he announces his intention to go to Main Engineering to restore main power. The computer audio pickup detected Riker mentioning his destination. Continuity and Production Problems # La Forge managing to collect his tools before he and Scotty are beamed away from the Jenolen. He probably packed them away before the Jenolen reached the Sphere's doorway. Nit Central # ryanw on Saturday, July 31, 1999 - 1:29 am: They said that when they were trapped inside that Dyson's sphere that the structure was made of this material that would make their weapons useless against it. If they know about this material and what it can do, why doesn't Starfleet make their ships of this stuff? Seniram They may not have the means to do this.Aaron Dotter on Sunday, January 23, 2000 - 8:32 pm: I think at some point during DS9 somebody (I want to say Kira or Sisko but I'm not sure) said that Starfleet didn't have the technology or resources to make neutronium. Of course, I could be totally wrong, so maybe I shouldn't have put this up.....… Jeremy on Wednesday, March 22, 2000 - 10:45 pm: Maybe it's like the age old question, "why don't they make the whole plane out of the black box?" Answer: if they did, it wouldn't fly. # Craig on Friday, June 23, 2000 - 9:12 pm: At the end of the show, Picard gives Scotty a shuttle to explore the Federation with. The exploration will take a while - shuttles aren't warp capable! Adam Bomb on Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 6:56 am: I disagree. Shuttles have been warp capable since ST-TMP. In that, the shuttle detached from a warp platform. # Benjamin Daniel Cohen (Bcohen) on Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 12:52 pm: Something that bothers me about the shuttle: where's the bathroom? Is Scotty supposed to hold it all the way to the Norpin(sp?) Colony (or wherever else he was going? There may be a retractable toilet unit in the side seats. # Keith Ratliff on Saturday, October 21, 2000 - 1:11 am: They completely give up when the friend is at 53% degradation, yet in "Realm of Fear," Barclay is degraded to 51% and he recovers completely normally, with another person who was also degraded. So, is there a ceiling where everything just flies apart? If it is so close, why not try? The transporter on the Jenolen is at least 75 years old, and has been continually operating in a jury-rigged state for most of that time – Personaly, I'm surprised it held together as long as it did! # joe fernando on Sunday, April 22, 2001 - 6:03 am: The Enterprise when caught inside the Dyson sphere has apparently lost most of it's navigational/propulsion systems. How is it then that when 'LaForge the useless' and Scotty wedge the entrance open, Picard gives the 'about turn' order and off they go. How? La Forge has trained the engineering staff well enough for them to get the navigation/propulsion systems at least partly operational in the interem. # Adam J. Bernay on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 10:23 am: Why in the world doesn't anyone question the marked difference in the uniforms of these supposed people from their future that they've encountered, especially when they have every reason to be suspicious? Are they so used to Starfleet changing uniforms at the drop of a hat that they've accepted that a totally different uniform not only could, but IS, in fact, a Starfleet uniform? They probably spotted the arrowhead symbol. # Mike Ram on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 10:13 pm: Scotty tells the computer to show him the bridge of his ship. It tells him it needs more info. He says to show him the bridge of the Enterprise. The computer says there have been 5 Federation ships by that name. Scotty says NCC-1701, without an a, b, c, or d. It shows him the main TOS bridge. 1. He says the bridge of the Enterprise, how does the computer know not to show him any of the sailing ships? Or the aircraft carrier? Or the space shuttle? Or the ship seen in TMP? Or the NX-01? Or any other Enterprises throughout history? 2. How does the computer know he means a Federations starship? What if he meant the NX-01, from before the Federation? 3. It's not the Ent-1701 bridge from "The Cage." Or "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Or TAS. Or TMP. Or TWOK. Or SFS. *For #3, I meant that that bridge was probably used during the most "legendary" command of Kirk, with the TOS-era crew and equipment. The New Warrior on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 10:51 pm: Could it be that that's the version most often used, or last used) by last person to use the holodeck? When I'm using Microsoft Word, the last/most commonly used other documents are listed under the FILE menu on the top toolbar. Could a similar thing be at work here? Ryan on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 4:49 pm: Regarding all the questions about Scotty's holodeck request (at least half the posts in Part 1 :P), Scotty begins the request by saying "The android at the bar told me you could show me my old ship". This already narrows the query down to 11 ships (as Scotty later reveals). It also immediately eliminates any possibility of the NX-01 or the space shuttle or the aircraft carrier being shown since Scotty clearly never served on any of those. It also makes sense that the computer now assumes he wants to see a Federation ship, since presumably that's all Scotty has served on. Then, when he states he wants to see the bridge of the Enterprise that should have narrowed the choices down to just two (maybe three): the original, (maybe the refitted original that pops up in the movies?), and the Enterprise-A. Oddly enough, at this point the computer announces that there are five ships with that name and asks for the registry. # Mike Nuss on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 6:03 pm: I don't know if anyone mentioned this on the Generations boards, but when Riker says that he is from the Enterprise, Scotty remarks that "Kirk must have dug her out of mothballs to come find me," or something similar. Wasn't Scotty there when Kirk was sucked into the Nexus on the Enterprise-B? He should think that Kirk is dead. KAM on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 4:37 am: Phil mentioned it in the NextGen Guide II. I believe an anti-nit was that a slight degradation was mentioned so maybe that memory was lost while Scotty was dematerialized. # Ryan on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 4:49 pm: Does it seem strange to anyone else that Picard is able to spit out all that information on Freeman Dyson and his Dyson Sphere on a moment's notice? The theory is 500 years old by the time of the show and in present time Dyson's theories aren't even well known. Even if he's supposed to be a "reniassance man", it seems strange Picard could rattle off all that old information. I think the scene would have been much more believeable if Data recited all that information ... possibly after some prodding from Picard's "vague recollections" of seeing some old theory if the writers absolutely had to work that angle in. LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 9:50 pm: All people know an obscure or trivial fact or two. The success of trivia games and trivia books is predicated on it. For a literate intellectual with varied interests like Picard, he no doubt has a boatload of them. Since a Dyson Sphere is a part of astronomy/astrophysics, which pertains to Picard, then it's not unreasonable for him to be familiar with it. He could've read it somewhere.Torque, Son of Keplar on Sunday, August 13, 2006 - 11:16 pm: Don't forget we don't know what topics are in the 24th century version of popular science. For all we know, Picard could have gotten his info from an article he read recently. Desmond on Monday, August 14, 2006 - 3:39 pm: Sure; there's no telling what esoteric bits of information an individual might know, or where he or she learned them. This board has people from all walks of life, and we all know what a Dyson sphere is... ;-) =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation